Just stick to the mandate and fix the health care website

Published 4:45 pm, Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The problems at the federal government's new health insurance website are so severe that even Democrats are starting to talk about neutering a key provision of the 2010 health care law: the requirement that adult Americans obtain coverage next year. But now is not the time to take such a drastic step, which could lead to sharper increases for individuals. The focus should remain on fixing the site quickly and signing up more people for insurance.

About a third of the states are operating their own insurance exchanges. The exchanges in all the other states are operated by the federal government. And though all of the exchanges had problems when they opened for business Oct. 1, the troubles at the federally run site, HealthCare.gov, have been more severe and enduring.

Some have responded by suggesting that the administration suspend the penalties for those unable to sign up for subsidized policies. Suspending the penalties is tantamount to delaying the mandate. And if there's no enforceable requirement to buy insurance, many Americans who don't need health care immediately won't do so.

There's already a risk that the penalties aren't stiff enough to guard insurers from being saddled with a sicker, costlier pool of customers, which would cause premiums to spiral upward. Suspending penalties would only make that more likely.

Delaying the mandate was a bad idea when Republicans proposed it. The variations being floated by Democrats are just as bad. If HealthCare.gov can't be whipped into shape within the next month or so, the federal government may have to pour resources into other enrollment efforts, such as the phone banks and in-person "navigators." But we're not at that point yet, and won't be for several weeks.